Dad? or disrespectful?

I still remember (very vividly) one day that my heavenly Father became a lot more personal. When I was in Auburn, Liz McCollum introduced the idea to me, but that was a bit beyond my grasp. I mean, how could I justify calling the creator of the entire universe “Daddy”? And wasn’t that disrespectful?! But then… one day on the other side of the world, the day of my team Thanksgiving party, I was freaking out. I had let worry consume me. There are a number of times that I can remember absolutely falling apart from worry (I mean knock down drag out almost paralyzed me hyperventilating), usually because I was running late for something important. Well, this day was one of those days. I wanted to be at the hotel early because I was setting up an area with encouragement posters for people to sign. It was going to be close. I had come back to my sister’s apartment with what I thought was plenty of time to get ready. I didn’t leave a lot of spare room for things to happen, and unfortunately, that’s usually when everything tends to go wrong right?

Well, that day, I was also MC’ing, which I wasn’t overly thrilled about, but that meant I absolutely could NOT be late. (Somewhere in all of my falling-apartness I also forgot that I was in a different country, and all times are relative.) So anyway, I was at home, had gotten my shower, making a mental list in my head of what all I needed to happen before I left and once I got there. Well, I had to find an outfit, which took a little longer than planned because the perfect one, my zipper on my jeans wouldn’t work. It zipped up and down, it just didn’t attach the two sides together. And I just couldn’t find anything else (and I realize now just how childish that sounds). Granted, not many days before all of this, my suitcase had been left in the back of a taxi with half of my wardrobe in it, so it really was kinda slim pickens in my closet. Well, I postponed the zipper to try to do something with my hair, and it wouldn’t cooperate for the world. It wouldn’t do anything. Sigh. By that point I was ready to scream. I had to pause and help Abigail where she had had an accident in the floor. I still had to get online and print or write down directions to this place. It was nightmarish. On top of everything I was not at home (my Ranburne home, or even Auburn). I couldn’t find something familiar, curl up and catch my breath. And I lost it. Bawling, I sat on the edge of my bed and cried and cried, and finally asked God to help. Well, after a couple more tries and when I let God teach me how to breathe again, I finally got my zipper to work, and had this image pass through my head of what I could do with my hair. I have no doubt in my mind that it was from God. So, it worked, and was actually cute. (And I’ve never been able to get my hair to do that same thing since!) I got everything written down and was out the door. Daddy had taught me how to breathe again. He was even still there when I freaked out (just a little this time) at the fact that there were NO taxis going that far south. Lol. Figures, right? Well, miraculously, I made it on time, early in fact. But that day, He became my Dad, one who wanted me to cry out to Him for help. He was the one that didn’t run away from my breakdown, but helped me through it, giving me solutions that only He could. They might seem like simple things, but haha.. never tell someone who is hyperventilating that their problems are simple.

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

We are...

"For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh." Phil 3:3

So I've been studying this out recently. What does it mean to be "the circumcision"? The definition that I found that really stuck with me is "spiritual purification". But then again, what does it mean for us, as Christians, to be the spiritual purification of the world? In looking up other places where the words circumcision or uncircumcised are used, I found verses that talk about uncircumcised lips (Ex 6:12), ears (Jer 6:10), hearts (Lev 26:41), and the fruit of a tree (Lev 19:23). So then I had to explore what these passages told me.

When the Bible speaks of uncircumcised lips and ears, and even somewhat of the fruit of a new tree, it refers to them not working as they were designed to, or not to their full potential. It says Moses' lips were faltering, ears that were uncircumcised were not able to hear or understand the Word of God, and the tree planted in a new land had to go through a period of time before it was considered holy and before it could be eaten.

The passage that really stood out to me though, was Leviticus 26:41-42, about our hearts. It says "when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land." So in my mind, this meant that uncircumcised must be the opposite of humbled in a way. So what does humble mean? The answers I found: to lower in importance, to destroy the independence power or will of, and to make meek (i.e. submissive, compliant, unassuming, yielding, calm, patient, etc.). Haha this may be hard to follow, but here goes. So if humble is the opposite of uncircumcised, then being humble is almost the same as being circumcised right?

So, as we are called "the circumcision," we're called to lower ourselves in importance. We're called to destroy our independence, and become dependent on God. We're called to destroy our power or will, in trading it in for the power of Christ and His will. And we're called to be meek, or patient, yielding, and submissive to others.

I know I certainly can't say I've really been on course with all of those recently. And if that's what it takes to be the spiritual purification, I have some work to do...